Optimal strategies for enhancing strength and improving motor skills are vital in athletic performance and clinical rehabilitation. Initial increases in strength and the acquisition of new motor skills have long been attributed to neurological adaptations. However, early increases in strength may be predominantly due to improvements in inter-muscular coordination rather than the force generating capacity of the muscle. Despite the plethora of research investigating neurological adaptations from motor skill or resistance training in isolation, little effort has been made in consolidating this research to compare motor skill and resistance training adaptations. The findings of this review demonstrated that motor skill and resistance training adaptations show similar shortterm mechanisms of adaptations, particularly at a cortical level. Increases in corticospinal excitability and a release in short-interval cortical inhibition occur as a result of the commencement of both resistance and motor skill training. Spinal changes show evidence of task-specific adaptations from the acquired motor skill, with an increase or decrease in spinal reflex excitability, dependant on the motor task. An increase in synaptic efficacy of the reticulospinal projections is likely to be a prominent mechanism for driving strength adaptations at the subcortical level, though more research is needed. Transcranial electric stimulation has been shown to increase corticospinal excitability and augment motor skill adaptations, but limited evidence exists for further enhancing strength adaptations from resistance training. Despite the logistical challenges, future work should compare the longitudinal adaptations between motor skill and resistance training to further optimise exercise programming.
Aim: To profile the etiology and recovery time-course of neuromuscular function in response to a mixed-content, standard training week in professional academy soccer players. We concurrently examined physical performance, cognitive function, and perceptual measures of mood and wellness states to identify a range of simple tests applied practitioners could use in the field as surrogate measures of neuromuscular function.Methods: Sixteen professional academy soccer players completed a range of neuromuscular, physical, perceptual, mood, and cognitive function tests at baseline and after a strenuous training day (pitch and gym), with retest at 24, 48, and 72 h, and further pitch and gym sessions after 48 h post-baseline. Maximal voluntary contraction force (MVC) and twitch responses to electrical stimulation (femoral nerve) during isometric knee-extensor contractions and at rest were measured to assess central nervous system (voluntary activation, VA) and muscle contractile (potentiated twitch force, Qtw,pot) function.Results: Strenuous training elicited decrements in MVC force post-session (−11%, p = 0.001) that remained unresolved at 72 h (−6%, p = 0.03). Voluntary activation (motor nerve stimulation) was reduced immediately post-training only (−4%, p = 0.03). No change in muscle contractile function (Qtw,pot) was observed post-training, though was reduced at 24 h (−13%, p = 0.01), and had not fully recovered 72 h after (−9%, p = 0.03). Perceptions of wellness were impaired post-training, and recovered by 24 h (sleepiness, energy) and 48 h (fatigue, muscle soreness, readiness to train). Countermovement jump performance declined at 24 h, while RSI (Reactive Strength Index) decrements persisted at 48 h. No changes were evident in adductor squeeze, mood, or cognitive function.Conclusion: Elite youth soccer training elicits substantial decrements in neuromuscular function, which are still present 72 h post-strenuous exercise. Though central processes contribute to post-exercise neuromuscular alterations, the magnitude and prolonged presence of impairments in contractile function indicates it is the restitution of muscular function (peripheral mechanisms) that explains recovery from strenuous training in academy soccer players.
Motor skill training alters the human nervous system, however lower limb motor tasks have been less researched compared to upper limb tasks. This meta-analysis with best evidence synthesis aimed to determine the cortical and subcortical responses that occur following lower limb motor skill training, and whether these responses are accompanied by improvements in motor performance. Following a literature search that adhered to the PRISMA guidelines, data was extracted and analysed from six studies (n = 172) for the meta-analysis, and eleven studies (n = 257) were assessed for the best evidence synthesis. Pooled data indicated that lower limb motor skill training increased motor performance, with a standardised mean difference (SMD) of 1.09 being observed. However, lower limb motor skill training had no effect on corticospinal excitability (CSE), H-reflex or MMAX amplitude.The best evidence synthesis found strong evidence for improved motor performance and reduced short-interval cortical inhibition (SICI) following lower limb motor skill training, with conflicting evidence towards the modulation of CSE. Taken together, this review highlights the need for further investigation on how motor skill training performed with the lower limb musculature modulates corticospinal responses. This will also help shed light on whether these neuronal measures are underpinning mechanisms that support an improvement in motor performance.
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